EastEnders Trivia
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48 free EastEnders trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Sep 2026.
EastEnders launched on 19 February 1985 with a body in a flat and Den Watts saying "Stinks in here dunnit?" Forty years on it has given British TV its most-watched soap episode ever, its first same-sex kiss, a fictional tube station and a postcode, E20, that did not exist until the show invented it. This EastEnders quiz covers the creation of Walford, the Watts, Beales, Fowlers, Mitchells and Slaters, the whodunits from Who Shot Phil? to Who Killed Lucy Beale?, and the actors behind the Square's longest-serving faces. Every answer is sourced and explained.
30 of 48 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01On which BBC channel has EastEnders been broadcast since 1985?
BBC One
BBC One wanted a twice-weekly soap to win the kind of audiences ITV got with Coronation Street, and 17 million watched EastEnders' first episode.
Q 02Who created EastEnders with Tony Holland?
Julia Smith
Julia Smith and Tony Holland devised all 23 original characters together on a working holiday in Lanzarote.
Q 03In EastEnders' opening scene, which character is found dying in a flat?
Reg Cox
Reg Cox had been badly beaten and died of his injuries, and 30 years later his attacker died of an overdose in the same spot.
Q 04Which EastEnders villain faked his own death in 2014, then died of a heroin overdose months later?
Nick Cotton
Nick Cotton died after his mother Dot chose not to call an ambulance, leaving fate to decide whether he lived.
Q 05What is the fictional postcode of Walford?
E20
E20 was created instead of E8, Hackney's real postcode behind the working title East 8, which casting agents mistook for 'Estate'; a real E20 later arrived for the Olympic Park.
Q 06Which real place in Dalston was EastEnders' Albert Square modelled on?
Fassett Square
Fassett Square was in a downmarket Hackney postcode, rich in stories and characters, but the real square has since gentrified far beyond Walford.
Q 07Where has EastEnders been filmed since it began?
BBC Elstree Centre
BBC Elstree Centre has been EastEnders' home since 1985, and in 2010 the Queen Vic was burnt down on screen so its set could be refurbished for HD.
Q 08Who composed the EastEnders theme tune?
Simon May
Simon May's famous 'doof doof' drums were an accident: a drum fill between sections that the show's creators happened to hear in the studio and loved.
Q 09EastEnders' opening titles were updated in 1999 to add which new London landmark?
Millennium Dome
The Millennium Dome's exhibition drew only about half its forecast 12 million visitors, but the building survived and now houses The O2.
Q 10Which Hollywood star is the younger brother of Laila Morse, who played EastEnders' Big Mo?
Gary Oldman
Gary Oldman gave his sister her first film role in Nil by Mouth, and her stage name Laila Morse is an anagram of 'mia sorella', Italian for 'my sister'.
Q 11What did Den Watts hand Angie in the record-breaking 25 December 1986 episode?
Divorce papers
Divorce papers were Den's answer to Angie faking a terminal illness with six months to live, and over 30 million watched him serve them.
Q 12Who originally played Angie Watts in EastEnders?
Anita Dobson
Anita Dobson also sang lyrics to the theme as 'Anyone Can Fall in Love', which reached No. 4 in the UK singles chart in 1986.
Q 13In 1989, Den Watts was shot by a gunman hiding his weapon in what?
A bunch of daffodils
A bunch of daffodils hid the gun, 24 million watched Den shot beside the canal, and viewers believed him dead until he walked back in 2003.
Q 21Who was revealed as the culprit in the 2001 'Who Shot Phil?' whodunit?
Lisa Shaw
Lisa Shaw's unmasking had the BBC ask a Uefa Cup semi-final, Barcelona v Liverpool, to kick off later so fans could see the episode first.
Q 22Which actor has played Phil Mitchell since 1990?
Steve McFadden
Steve McFadden's Phil was at the heart of 1994's 'Sharongate', when Grant played a tape of Sharon confessing their affair to the whole Queen Vic.
Q 23Before Barbara Windsor took over in 1994, who first played Peggy Mitchell on screen, in 1991?
Jo Warne
Jo Warne's Peggy came in for ten episodes only, for her daughter's elopement storyline, before the role was recast with Barbara Windsor in 1994.
Q 14Who finally killed Den for good in the 20th anniversary episode in 2005?
Chrissie Watts
Chrissie Watts struck the fatal blow after Zoe had already hit Den over the head, leaving Zoe believing she was the killer.
Q 15What was the very first line spoken in EastEnders, by Den Watts?
"Stinks in here dunnit?"
'Stinks in here dunnit?' was Den's line as he, Arthur Fowler and Ali Osman broke down a neighbour's door.
Q 16Which actor who played Den Watts in EastEnders had served ten years in prison for murder?
Leslie Grantham
Leslie Grantham shot a taxi driver in a botched robbery in Osnabrück while in the army, and went to drama school after his release.
Q 17Which actress left EastEnders as Tiffany and later played tea lady Natalie in Love Actually?
Martine McCutcheon
Martine McCutcheon missed many performances as Eliza in My Fair Lady through illness, yet won an Olivier Award for the role in 2002.
Q 18Which EastEnders character famously wailed 'Rickaaay!' at her husband?
Bianca
Bianca's wail followed Patsy Palmer off screen: in 2008 she said someone had shouted 'Rickaaay!' at her every day for nine years, even at her bedroom window.
Q 19Which actor played Queen Vic landlord Mick Carter in EastEnders from 2013 to 2022?
Danny Dyer
Danny Dyer's Mick was last seen diving into the freezing sea to save his wife Linda, and he never resurfaced.
Q 20Which instrument did EastEnders' Sonia Fowler famously play, badly, as a running joke?
Trumpet
The trumpet even featured in Sonia's 2025 farewell: she played it as she left Walford one last time.
Q 24Barbara Windsor was best known before EastEnders for which British film series?
Carry On
Carry On Camping gave Barbara Windsor her most famous scene, when her bikini top flew off mid-exercise, yanked by a fishing line off camera.
Q 25Which actor played Grant Mitchell?
Ross Kemp
Ross Kemp went from playing a hard man to meeting real ones: his documentary series Ross Kemp on Gangs won a BAFTA for best factual series.
Q 26Danniella Westbrook is best known for playing which Mitchell?
Sam
Sam went to Danniella Westbrook at 16, but when the character came back, producers recast Sam with Kim Medcalf over Westbrook's personal problems.
Q 27Dot Cotton spent most of her Walford years working where?
The launderette
The launderette was Dot's workplace for most of her years, a role her actress landed after the actor who played Den recommended her.
Q 28In 2008 Dot became the first British soap character to do what?
Carry a whole monologue episode
To carry a whole monologue episode, Dot talked into a tape recorder for her husband Jim, in hospital after a stroke.
Q 29Who played Dot Cotton from 1985 until 2020?
June Brown
June Brown left EastEnders for good in 2020, and after she died in 2022 the soap had Dot die off-screen, with a funeral episode that December.
Q 30What was the name of Ethel Skinner's beloved pug?
Willy
Willy the pug was Ethel's constant companion, and Ethel's final storyline in 2000 saw her friend Dot help her end her life.